


Blame it on the weather

by ATryingHuman



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: F/M, One Shot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-23
Updated: 2016-12-23
Packaged: 2018-09-11 06:41:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,363
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8963686
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ATryingHuman/pseuds/ATryingHuman
Summary: Just a normal Saturday in the Dupain-Cheng Bakery, when Sabine and Tom ask Marinette for help at the counter. And it's hot.A take on what a day without akumas or school is like for Marinette, featuring our (and her) favorite blond model.





	

It was hot.

Marinette glanced at the broken air conditioner that hanged just above the bakery’s entrance door. The Dupain-Chengs had three functioning electrical fans, but none of them were a ceiling fan and none of them were pointed at her. Something about prioritizing the customers and the baker. She felt her forehead drip and ran the back of her hand against it, collecting quite a few drops of sweat. Frowning, she took a handmade handkerchief from her shorts’ back pocket and dried her hands in it. The white cloth had an early version of her signature and was poorly finished with pink lace around the edges.

She smiled softly, remembering how difficult it seemed to handle the sewing machine back then. Out of all the fabric Sabine had bought her for her first attempts at sewing, the only piece she kept was the little handkerchief. It was even a little crooked, but the girl just couldn’t get herself to throw away the good quality materials. And, of course, there was also the fondness tied to the first successfully crafted piece she’d ever done. You know, humans do tend to get attached.

The bell dinged, announcing the entry of a customer and efficiently snapping Marinette out of her memory revival. Noticing she’d been leaning on the countertop with one hand supporting her chin and the other absentmindedly waving the handkerchief in front of her nose, she jumped quickly back into position and put on a warm welcoming smile. Behind her back, the handkerchief was shoved back in her pocket.

Closing her eyes for a second, she felt a wave of heat climb the back of her neck and spread through her body, immediately regretting the abruptness of her previous movements. The noise coming from the two fans above her head were an annoyance, since they were there specifically for cooling the customer area and did not send one teeny gust of wind her way. Forcing herself to ignore that, Marinette turned to the woman looking at the pastries behind the glass.

“Good day, Madam! My name is Marinette, how can I help you?”

“Hi there”, greeted the woman without looking up, still distracted by the sweets in front of her. She wore a very cute yellow dress with no sleeves, noticed the girl. “Marinette, you said? Could you maybe help me decide? You see, it’s my boy’s birthday and he and my husband are off in the toy store buying his gift. Meanwhile, I’m supposed to buy him a treat because-“

As she went on, Marinette couldn’t help but smile. Waiting behind the counter for customers to come in was tedious, and standing in the shop practically melting in the heat was _hellish_ , but moments like these, when the people of Paris would confide their daily lives to an unkown attendant girl in a bakery, moments like these made her see the value in the job she had as Ladybug.

“-and here I am. So, what do you think?” The girl chuckled at the wholehearted look the woman shot her along the question.

“Well, personally, I’m a huge fan of my father’s crème brûlée, but the chocolate mousse is our greatest hit with the kids! What do you say?” Marinette stretched over the counter to point the pastries’ location inside the showcase. The woman seemed thoughtful.

“Hm, can’t go wrong with the classic, right? I’ll have the chocolate mousse, please and thank you.”

“Right away!”

The girl reached under the counter and took the dessert without even looking, already going for the pile of unfolded thermic envelopments sitting on the corner of the countertop. She managed to fold one in the span of a minute – a new record! Nice going, Marinette –, and then, storing the chocolate mousse inside, handed it to the woman. Goodbyes were said and the door was closed, and she was alone in the heat again. She watched as the fans ventilated the empty space in front of her. The wind lazily moved the borders of her parents' advertising panflets. Otherwise, the walls and the nothing were the only things affected by the breeze.

“You know what, that’s it.”

The girl fetched a three-step ladder from a corner and propped it against the wall under one of the fans. Climbing it up, she tried to figure out a way to turn the blades towards her position. After pushing a few random buttons, she finally noticed a small circular regulator and tried to spin it. It was firmly set in the current position. She grumbled, testing the regulator with increasing strength.

*DING*

 _Not now_ , thought Marinette, struggling with the regulator. Her sweaty hands made it ten times more difficult for her to secure her grasp on it. She blew her bangs out of her line of vision and, too focused to look back at the stranger, greeted the person without looking back.

“I’ll be right with you, just a second!”

Not waiting for an answer, she bit her lip, carefully measuring how much strength she were to increase each time she tried to spin the button. She thought she felt it budge just the tiniest bit. _Almost there, just a little more..._

“...Okay. Do you need some help with that, Marinette?”

Suddenly, her fingers squeezed the regulator with a much greater strength than she intended, and the circular button spun all the way through, causing the superior structure of the fan to drop with an audible *THUD*. Marinette, who had both hands on the device, felt her fingers slip and suddenly saw herself on the ground. She fell flat on her butt, wincing from the impact.

“Oh my God! Marinette, are you alright?”

“ADRIEN”, squeaked the girl, stopping the blonde on his tracks. He was already halfway through the counter passageway, ready to help her get back on her feet. She blushed and stood up in a flash, embarrassed both by being seen in that position and by her own screaming. “I’m o-okay, thank you.”

"Marinette?", came a muffled voice from inside the kitchen. "Are you ok? What was that?"

"I'm okay, papa!", she shouted back, avoiding the gaze of her friend. "I just tripped!"

They heard something like a relieved muttering. Adrien took a step back, but didn’t fully relax. He scanned her from top to bottom. “You sure you’re okay?”

“Yeah, I’m f-fine. So, what brings you here?”

She grinned, hoping not to be too obvious as the blush slowly faded from her cheeks. His stance relaxed a bit, seemingly accepting the girl’s claims of recovery. He then looked around at the goods of the bakery. Marinette saw his eyes shine when they reached the pastries.

“I just did my last photoshoot of the month, so Nathalie told me I could have something sweet to eat today. You got any suggestions?”

Struck with the boy’s expectant look, Marinette forgot how to function for a moment. She tried to remember how to speak based on her last successful interaction.

“Well, uh, I like the crème brûlée, but, well, you’re hot- IT’S HOT! *Ahem* It’s h-hot, so maybe the... chocolate mousse...”

He smiled brightly, apparently thrilled at her idea. “Yeah, I haven’t had chocolate in awhile now! I’ll have one of that, please, Marinette!”

“S-sure!”

She quietly scrooched down, taking the second plastic cup of mousse of the day. Then she paused.

“Do you want me to... wrap it up?”

“No need, I’ll eat it right now!”

“Okay.”

She handed the dessert over, collecting his money payment. She watched as the boy took a spoonful and put it in his mouth, closing his eyes in delight.

“Man, sometimes I forget how good are sweets. Thanks for the great suggestion, Marinette!”

“Uh, y-yeah.”

 _Nice, very eloquent,_ she mentally scolded herself. Adrien turned to the door with a cheerful “See you around”, sinking the spoon back into the cup. _“...the chocolate mousse is our greatest hit with the kids!”_ , she remembered her own voice saying. Watching as the boy walked away from the door, she felt another heat wave flush her neck and cheeks. _It’s really hot today_ , she thought, unaware of the refreshing wind blowing on her back from the downed fan.

**Author's Note:**

> Hello! Did you like this little one shot? It was really just for fun, but maybe I'll do something with a plot in the future.
> 
> Besides, I needed to vent in some way about this heat or I'd go crazy. You Northern Hemisphere dwellers make me quite envious at this time of the year.
> 
> By the way, Happy Holidays!


End file.
